| Fully Typed-In Calculations vs. Button-Operated Calculations |
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Hand-held, button-operated calculators were first introduced in the 1970s. When implementing calculators on a computer, these hardware calculators have simply been duplicated in software. Many people believe that this approach doesn’t produce the best possible software calculators, because it doesn’t use the full power of the computer: “A computer is a far more powerful device than a hand-held calculator, and thus it is illogical and limiting to duplicate hand-held calculators on a computer.” (http://www.haxial.com/products/calculator)
This is why the Formula Calculator Products are different – they don’t simply duplicate traditional, button-operated calculators. Instead, they provide an alternative, and much more beneficial method of calculation entry – they allow calculations to be typed in from the keyboard. See the Benefits of Formula Calculators for the reasons why this is very much a superior method of calculation entry.
Before calculators, log tables (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_logarithm) and slide rules (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slide_rule) were used by students, engineers, mathematicians and scientists, but no one learns about these any more, because button-operated calculators have replaced them. Similarly, many people believe that Formula Calculators will replace button-operated calculators for use on a computer.
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Feature
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New Concept of Formula Calculators
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Conventional Button-Operated Calculators, such as Moffsoft, ESB and M/S Accessories
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| Fully typed-in calculations |
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| Multiple calculations at once |
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| Keyboard entry of functions |
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| Complete visible and re-usable record of calculations |
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| Saveable, loadable and re-usable calculations |
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| Change numbers and re-calculate by clicking a single button |
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| Copy, paste and edit numbers before re-calculation |
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| Edit formulas before re-calculation |
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| Copy and paste whole or part calculations, not just numbers |
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| Load a saved calculator and re-calculate with different numbers |
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| Double-click on a saved calculator file to load |
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| Drag-and-drop a saved calculator file to load |
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| Equivalent features |
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| Keyboard entry of numbers |
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Depends on the product
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| Keyboard entry of operations |
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Depends on the product
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| Button application of functions |
Depends on the FC Product
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Depends on the product
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| Button application of statistics |
Depends on the FC Product
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Depends on the product
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| Automatic implementation of written-formula (infix) notation |
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Depends on the product
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| Button application of operations |
Depends on the FC Product
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| FC Lite vs. Arithmetic Calculators (Moffsoft) |
| We are proud to say that the smallest Products in our FC Family, FC Lite and FC Arithmetic, can match or better the features available in Moffsoft. |
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Feature |
FC Lite |
Moffsoft Calculator 2 |
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Fully typed-in calculations |
Yes |
No |
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Complete visible and re-usable record of a calculation |
Yes |
No |
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Save calculations in native format |
Yes |
No |
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Load and re-use a saved calculation |
Yes |
No |
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Change numbers and re-calculate by clicking a single button |
Yes |
No |
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Must re-enter all operations to redo a calculation with different numbers |
No |
Yes |
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Re-usable numbers |
Yes – copy and paste, plus edit and re-calculate |
Yes – double click on the tape |
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Edit numbers before re-calculation |
Yes |
No |
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Edit formulas before re-calculation |
Yes |
No |
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Copy and paste whole or part calculations |
Yes |
No |
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Copy and paste to construct calculations |
Yes |
No |
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Copy and paste to export/import to/from any other software package |
Yes |
No |
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Resize calculator window |
Yes |
Yes |
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Independent horizontal and vertical resizing |
Yes |
No |
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Dynamic resizing |
Yes |
No |
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Maximize calculator window |
Yes |
No |
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Always On Top option |
Yes |
Yes |
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Change text size in the calculator window |
Yes |
Yes |
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Change text size independent of resizing |
Yes |
No |
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Change font |
Yes |
Yes |
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Change text color |
Yes |
No |
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Change color scheme of the calculator window |
No |
Yes |
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Customisable launch window |
Yes |
Yes |
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Choose customisations for the launch window |
Yes |
No |
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Keyboard entry of complete calculations |
Yes |
No |
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Keyboard entry of calculations in parentheses |
Yes |
No |
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Keyboard entry of numbers |
Yes |
Yes |
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Keyboard entry of operations |
Yes |
Yes |
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Button application of operations |
No |
Yes |
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Load a saved calculator and re-calculate with different numbers |
Yes |
No |
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Use the File menu to load a saved calculator |
Yes |
No |
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Double-click on a saved calculator file to load |
Yes |
No |
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Drag-and-drop a saved calculator file to load |
Yes |
No |
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Multiple calculations at once |
Yes |
No |
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Automatic implementation of written-formula (infix) notation |
Yes |
No |
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Percent operation |
No (but see FC Arithmetic) |
Yes |
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Square root operation |
No (but see FC Arithmetic) |
Yes |
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Exponentiation operation - including other roots |
No (but see FC Arithmetic) |
No |
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Remainder operation |
No (but see FC Arithmetic) |
No |
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Integer division operation |
No (but see FC Arithmetic) |
No |
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Help for all features |
Yes |
Yes |
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Help for each menu |
Yes |
No |
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Help contains many examples |
Yes |
No |
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Copy and paste from the examples as a starting point |
Yes |
No |
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Context-sensitive help |
Yes |
No |
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Tooltips |
Yes |
Yes (but it’s called context-sensitive help) |
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Hints |
Yes |
Yes |
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Printable User Manual |
Yes |
No |
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Arithmetic calculator |
Yes |
Yes |
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Statistics calculator |
No (but see FC Arithmetic) |
No |
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Scientific calculator |
No (but see FC Scientific) |
No |
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Financial calculator |
No |
Yes |
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Conversion calculator |
No |
Yes |
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Date/Time calculator |
No |
Yes |
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| FC Scientific vs. Scientific Calculators (ESB) |
| We are proud to say that the simplest Scientific-Calculator Product in our FC Family can match or better the features available in ESB. |
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Feature
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FC Scientific
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ESB Calc Pro
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| Fully typed-in calculations |
Yes
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No
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| Fully typed-in nested calculations in parentheses |
Yes
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No
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| Complete visible and re-usable record of a calculation |
Yes
|
No
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| Save calculations in native format |
Yes
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No
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Load and re-use a saved calculation |
Yes
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No
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| Change numbers and re-calculate by clicking a single button |
Yes
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No
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| Must re-enter all operations to redo a calculation with different numbers |
No
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Yes
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| Re-usable numbers |
Yes – copy and paste, plus edit and re-calculate
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Yes – select from drop-down list of results
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| Edit numbers before re-use |
Yes
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No
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| Edit formulas before re-calculation |
Yes
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No
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| Copy and paste whole or part calculations, not just numbers |
Yes
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No
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| Keyboard entry of numbers |
Yes
|
Yes
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| Keyboard entry of operations |
Yes
|
Yes
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| Keyboard entry of functions |
Yes
|
No
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| Button application of operations |
Yes
|
Yes
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| Button application of functions |
Yes
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Yes
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| Multiple calculations at once |
Yes
|
No
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| Combine typed-in calculations with button operation |
Yes
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No
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| Apply buttons to complete calculations, not just numbers |
Yes
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No
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| Apply buttons to multiple calculations at once |
Yes
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No
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| Calculate multiple statistics at once by clicking a single button |
Yes
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No
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| Calculate multiple statistics for several thousand numbers in less than 1 second (depends on the notebook) |
Yes
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No
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| Apply statistics to complete calculations, not just numbers |
Yes
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No
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| Totals and cummulative totals for lists of numbers or calculations |
Yes
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No
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| Resize calculator window |
Yes
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No
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| Maximize calculator window |
Yes
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No
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| Help for all features |
Yes
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Yes
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| Help contains many examples |
Yes
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No
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| Context-sensitive help |
Yes
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No
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| Tooltips |
Yes
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Yes
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| Hints |
Yes
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No
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| Printable User Manual |
Yes
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No
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| Arithmetic calculator |
Yes
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Yes
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| Statistics calculator |
Yes
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No
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| Scientific calculator |
Yes
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Yes
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| Financial calculator |
No
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No
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| Conversion calculator |
No
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No
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| Date/Time calculator |
No
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No
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| Formula Calculator Products vs. Microsoft's Windows Calculator Accessories |
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The Calculator Accessories - Arithmetic and Scientific - are simply software implementations of traditional button-operated calculators. On the other hand, our FC Products are Formula Calculators, with all the benefits that brings. |
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Feature
|
FC Products
|
M/S Accessories
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| Fully typed-in calculations |
|
|
| Multiple calculations at once |
|
|
| Keyboard entry of functions |
|
|
| Complete visible and re-usable record of calculations |
|
|
| Saveable, loadable and re-usable calculations |
|
|
| Change numbers and re-calculate by clicking a single button |
|
|
| Copy, paste and edit numbers before re-calculation |
|
|
| Edit formulas before re-calculation |
|
|
| Copy and paste whole or part calculations, not just numbers |
|
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| Resize calculator window |
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| Maximize calculator window |
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| Change text font, color and size |
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| Always On Top option |
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| Customise launch window |
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| Help for all features |
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| Help contains many examples |
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| Context-sensitive help |
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| Tooltips |
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| Hints |
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| Printable User Manual |
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